by Horatius Piscinus on Sun May 02, 2004 4:59 pm
Salvete sodales et comreligiones omnes
I decided to continue this thread for a discussion of formal Roman rituals. A few long posts, footnoted, too. I will try then to go in some specifics in rituals in the threads for the various months, and related to all of this will also be the general discussion on Roman prayers. So to begin:
A public rite of the Religio Romana is a formal affair where the main celebrant directs, more so than performs, the actual ritual. In this he is accompanied by a number of assistants who each performs a different role. Since a public rite is conducted for the benefit of a community or a societas, the main celebrant is either elected for the purpose of holding the rite or otherwise is the highest elected official present. Thus a consul or other magistrate generally conducted public rites that were performed to benefit the city of Rome and its people during the Republic, and in later years the emperor or a member of his family would do so. During the Regal period the king initially served this role, although it appears that in the latter Regal period a rex sacrorum may have served as the city?s representative. Under the Republic a rex sacrorum was retained for certain rites. An example of an official elected for the sole purpose of conducting a public rite is found with the election of Lucius Manlius as dictator for the ceremony of hammering a nail in the Capitolium sanctuary of Minerva (1). A societas might be a private association or it could be a public societas as in the case of the Fratres Arvales. In the latter case a magister was elected a year in advance, whose main role was to conduct the rites of the societas including the election of his successor. In the absence of the magister, however, one of the other fratres would be chosen to fill his role as chief celebrant.
Pliny mentions how chief magistrates were assisted by priests at public ceremonies. "We observe that our chief magistrates pray according to fixed formulae; to prevent any word being omitted or misplaced, someone reads out in advance from a written text; another person is appointed as a monitor to keep watch, and yet another is charged with ensuring silence, while a flutist plays to prevent anything but the prayer being heard (2)." In one particular case the pontifex maximus was compelled to assist the curule aedile Gnaeus Flavius, who was initially refused assistance by the nobles because of his humble birth. Cornelius Barbatus, as pontifex maximus, then dictated the formula of dedication to Flavius for a temple to Concordia in the precinct of Vulcan (3). The popae and victimarii were special priests, usually public slaves, who performed the actual sacrifice of an animal. Even in the case of a private sacrifice at a temple, the celebrant would purchase an animal for sacrifice, but it would have been popae and victimarii he would order to perform the actual sacrifice. No less important in Roman rites than the chief priest were the flutists. Ovid tells one version of the story where all rites, public and private, came to a halt when the temple flutists abandoned the city in protest (4). Even children had a role in Roman rites. Child choirs formed part of the procession held for Augustus? saeculares, and all of the children of the city, it might be said, was represented by the camillus who assisted the main celebrant by carrying offerings. Both boys and girls were used to carry offerings while most often depicted is a boy holding the acerra, or box of incense. Depictions of Roman rites thus show a gathered crowd of celebrants either in the pompa, the procession to an altar, or else around the altar itself. Before the altar at the center would stand the main celebrant as he ordered all of the other participants in turn to perform their part.
"Ordering" was a chief feature of Roman formal ritual. For a private rite we find Cato say, "Order (impera) the sacrificial victims to be led around (the land to be purified) (5)." Also with Statius there is a private rite performed by a priest assisted by his daughter, herself a priestess, where the interaction is one of the priest ordering the priestess to perform actions at different stages of the rite (6). From several descriptive examples we can try to piece together the various parts of a formal Roman rite. Not all rites would have the various stages, and the order of various parts might vary among these stages, but for our own purposes of noting the various parts of a formal Roman ritual we can separate them among four stages. These are the praefatio, pompa, and the sacrificatio. the sacrificatio is itself divided into the Precatio, Oblatio, Probatio, Immolatio, Exta Caesatio, Scrutatio, Poriecta, and Redditio.
Praefatio
The initial part of a formal rite was called the praefatio. The praefatio itself may be divided into the call for silentium, and an "ordering" of the altars and vessels used for the rite. After the defeat of Perseus by Aemilius Paulus, some of the Macedonian leaders took shelter at a Greek sanctuary. Rather than defile the sanctuary, one of the Roman officers asked, "Why then have you allowed a murderer to pollute (this sanctuary) with the blood of king Eumenes when the praefatio to every rite warns away from holy things those whose hands are not pure?" (7) In Cicero's example of a rite of taking the auspices the main celebrant first requests, "Quintus Fabius, I wish you to be to me (as an assistant) in taking the auspices." To this Fabius replied, "Audivi. I have heard." The main celebrant, called a praesidium, then said, "Tell me if silentium appears to exist." Cicero said that in his day the assistant would immediately reply, without first looking around, "Silentium appears to exist (8)." This formula was based on earlier practice. We know that when a consul called for a vote of a comitia to be taken, his lictores would call out to the crowd, "Foreigners, slaves and unmarried women, be gone (9)!" Other examples of a call for silentium is Virgil's, "Far away, O faraway, may the profane be," and Calpurnius', "Go! Far from here, for this is a sacred place, go you who are profane!" For the arrival of the Magna Mater at Rome Silius Italicus has Scipio Nasica say, "Spare your guilty palms from touching these ropes. Away from here, I warn you, go far away from hence, whosoever among you is unchaste, do not share in this sacred task." Ovid's silentium is a terse statement, "Keep silent and attend," where Statius expands further on its meaning.
"Come, be present, gods and men, to these holy rites. Begone, you wicked folk, begone far from here, all whose hearts harbor unspoken an unholy desire, any who thinks their elderly relatives have lived too long, or you who are conscious of ever having struck your own mother, fears the urn of unbending Aeacus in the Underworld. I call only upon the innocent and the chaste (10)."
Silentium is most often translated as "silence." However it would be more proper to think of it as meaning "assume a reverent decorum" as would be expected at solemn ceremonies. The purpose for calling for silentium is twofold. Cicero defined it as "free of every augural defect (11)." Implied in this, especially during the taking of auspices, was that those attending did not interrupt the ceremony with any distracting sounds or actions. Also it was not proper for everyone to attend certain rites. In an example given by Servius women and children are dismissed from the rites of Hercules, while in a story of Hercules coming upon a women's rite it is men who are ordered to leave. The other reason, not so explicitly stated, was to prevent the secret names of the deities from being revealed. The Gods would first be invoked aloud by using titles. These are the names that would be heard by the audience and which we know as they appear in poetry. However the actual invocations were made in hushed tones as the celebrant bowed over the offerings and murmured the hidden names of the deities. The danger of revealing the hidden names was that the gods could then be called away from preserving Rome, just as the Romans had performed an evocatio against Veii and Carthage (12).
With silentium established and all those who might vitiate a rite ordered away, the main celebrant then ordered altars to be set up and sacred vessels brought forward. In some cases this would mean that altars had to be constructed on the spot, made from cut turf. In the case of rites to the Manes or Di Inferni pits would be dug in which pyres were then ordered built (13). But even where altars already stood, these would have to be first prepared in order to hold a ceremony. Thus Virgil's sorceress calls to her servant, "Bring water, and gird this altar with soft wool fillets, burn rich vervain and male frankincense (14)." The mention of vervain here goes along with Pliny's comment that, "among the Romans there is no plant that enjoys a more extended renown than the holy plant, known to some as pigeon plant, and more generally among us as vervain. It is this plant that we have already mentioned as being borne in the hands of envoys when treating with the enemy, with this that the table of Jupiter is cleansed, with this that houses are purified and due expiation made (15)." The altar and the area around it would be swept and then altar's top surface scrubbed with vervain. In some cases tables set up to serve the Gods might also be scrubbed with vervain or mints. The process of sweeping may have entailed first spreading roasted spelt and salt, just as the lictores carried for the purpose of purifying the houses where someone had died. Then the area was aspersed with pure water, as was the temple precinct in the rededication of the Capitolium. Cicero wrote, "impurity is removed by the sprinkling of water (16)." In the consecration of the Capitolium in 70 CE the Vestal Virgins led a troop of boys and girls aspersing the area with spring water. An altar was further purified by winding woolen fillets around it at least three times (17). The fillets might be of raw wool, otherwise they were dyed in three colours - white, red and black. At least in the case of the various flamines purified woolen fillets were provided each February by the rex sacrorum and flamen Dialis (18). While the main celebrant would simply order the altars to be set up, it was likely one of his priestly assistants would direct this so that it too as would be "free of every augural defect." This would indeed have been a prerequisite as any ill omen at this stage could cancel the rite even if its discovery was made later. Upon the altar would be built the molucrum that according to Aelius Stilo and Cloatius Verus was a square arrangement of firewood (19). Where Ovid describes a turf altar built for the Terminalia he said that the elder man struggled to fix the wood firmly into the earth (20). From this we may assume that an upright frame marking the corners of a square was constructed first, and the other firewood would be placed around it to form a kind of small tower. On a stone altar the wood would had to have been placed in an interlacing pattern, similar to a rail fence, to provide air spaces. Kindling would be placed inside and bark then used to begin the fire. Only certain kinds of wood were thought beneficial, and certain trees were associated with different deities, so the selection of what wood would be used might depend on which deity was being invoked.
Also required for holding Roman rites would be sacramental vessels. These too would be ordered made proper and brought forward. Thus we hear one of Plautus? characters exclaim, "Go home, and order your vessels to be straight made fit, that I may with many offerings seek Jove?s kind favor (21)." At a temple certain furnishings were reserved for the God or Goddess. These would include the tables on which the Gods would be served offerings, the couches on which Their statues would be placed, the images of the deities, as well plates, bowls and cups in which offerings were placed. Macrobius mentioned that such temple furnishings would be consecrated to their purpose along with an altar at the time a temple was dedicated (22). Other implements would be later given as offerings to the God or Goddess at Their temple and these too would had to have been consecrated. We hear, as examples, the golden bowl offered to Juno by the matrons of the city and Pompey's dedication of fluorspar bowls and cups to Jupiter (23). Sacramental vessels were stored away in wooden boxes as have been found in Pompei. When replaced, due to age or wear, as consecrated items they would have to be specially deposited in favisse as Varro mentioned, and these buried deposits could not be disturbed as Q. Catulus was to learn when he proposed excavating part of the Capitoline Hill in order to enlarge the Capitolium. Some were brought along in travel, as we are told by Pliny that a Roman general never went anywhere without his patera and saltcellar. Certain items that were stored at temples would likewise take on a sacred aura. The Senate and the concilium plebis often met before the Capitolium where special urns were kept for drawing lots. A sortition was a special rite in itself, the favour of the Gods being sought, and thus the lots and sitella were treated as sacramental vessels, "specially designated and ritually stored (24)." When, therefore, the sacramental vessels were needed for a ceremony, they had to be removed from storage, cleansed, and some were perfumed or fumigated. These, along with the altar and even the area around it, might also be decorated beforehand. In the praefatio they would then be ordered forward.
Prior to performing a ritual the participants would have cleansed themselves and donned the proper attire. In some cases a period of purification preceded a ritual, in which prayer, cleansing, sacrifice, abstinence and fasting might be performed (25). For private rites purification might include dipping the head in a river (26). The praefatio though would include a ceremonial cleansing of the main celebrant. An assistant would pour pure water over his or her hands and some water would be sprinkled onto his head. In Ovid's description of a rite, "twice Numa sprinkles his unshorn head with spring water." A bough of bay would be dipped in pure water and the water then allowed to drip onto the head. Elsewhere Propertius has a celebrant order his assistant, "sprinkle my head with pure water and on the new shrines (27)." Propertius would indicate that the celebrant was cleansed along with the altars he would use, making a direct connection between the celebrant and the sacrifices he will order.
A distinguishing part of a praefatio would include the calling of deities to witness the rite. Since Roman piety required that rites to the Gods be maintained it was important that Gods be called to the rites in order to attest to their performance. Some rites entailed a bargain being struck, either as a wedding proposal, a treaty being struck or some business action, where oaths would be sworn, and here too the Gods were called as witness. Often the prayers of a rite were contractual in nature, either making a vow to perform something for the Gods in exchange for some favour, or else the fulfillment of such a vow. The Gods were thus called to act as guarantors to a vow (28). A kind of formulary for a vow is found with Plautus, "Goddess, I call on you to witness that if... then I - I speak, Goddess, that you may hear - I will give... And if I do anything to violate this, I pray that I shall suffer misfortune." Invoking divine wrath on the parties who failed to fulfill an agreement was part of a treaty made by the fetiales. It would also appear in declarations made by magistrates and even private citizens. "If I should willfully break my oath, may Jupiter Optimus Maximus inflict upon me the worst, most shameful ruin, and on my house, my family, and all I possess (29)." In another example of a vow taken from Plautus we find several deities called upon, "By Jupiter and all the gods and goddesses, Juno and Ceres, Minerva, Latona, Hope, and Ops, Virtue, Venus, Castor and Pollux, Mars, Mercurius, Hercules, Summanus, Sol and Saturnus, I swear (30)." In the formal convention of public rites, at least by the Middle Republic, such prayers of calling the Gods as witness would always begin with Janus and end with Vesta (31). The primary example of the position of Janus in Roman prayers comes from the devotio of Decius.
"Janus, Jupiter, Father Mars, Quirinus, Bellona, Lares, You divine Novensiles and You divine Indigetes, deities whose power extends over us and over our foes, and to You, too, Divine Manes, I pray, I do You reverence, I crave Your grace and favour will bless the Roman People, the Quirites, with power and victory, and will visit fear, dread and death on the enemies of the Roman People, the Quirites (32)."
The fact that these were preliminary prayers to most if not all formal rites, and not part of the main ritual itself, may be found in Cato. In De Agricultura CXXXIV Cato tells of a ritual to be performed to Ceres prior to the harvest. But he says to first pray to Janus, Jupiter and Juno before performing the rite. Another point brought out by Cato is that each deity called upon to witness a rite should be given offerings separately. Wine, incense and bread are offered to the attesting deities, and each offering is made with a separate prayer. Thus Cato has:
Offer piled cakes to Janus while saying, "Father Janus, to You I pray with good prayers, offering You this pile of cakes, so that You might willing be favorable to me and my children, to my home and household." Offer fertum cakes to Jupiter and honor Him thus, "Jupiter, to You I pray good prayers, offering You this pile of fertum cakes, in order that You, honored to receive these fertum cakes, may willingly be favorable to me and to my children, to my house and home." Afterwards give an offering of wine to Janus, "Father Janus, for the same reasons given in the good prayers I prayed while offering You piled cakes, may You accept and be honor by this portion of wine I pour." Likewise for Jupiter, say, "Jupiter, be strengthened by this fertum, be honored by this portion of wine I now pour." Next sacrifice the porca praecidanea (to Ceres). When after the entrails are cut into portions and offered on the altar, offer a pile of cakes and honor Janus once more, in the same manner as before. Then honor Jupiter with an offering of fertum as before. Likewise (make your offerings to Juno and Ceres).
In another rite Cato said that after making a sacrifice to Jupiter Daplis an offering is made to Vesta "if you want (33)." Most commentators and historians agree with Cicero that Janus was invoked first and Vesta last. However Ovid made a statement that Vesta was invoked first. This might be explained if we consider that a sacrifice was made in various steps. Since prayers to any deity would be coupled with an offering placed into the altar fire it would necessarily follow that it be lit prior to calling the Gods as witness. Vesta's assistance in this might well have been invoked, yet it would have been separate from the preliminary prayers of the praefatio. Also we should recall that Cicero was referring to calling the Gods to witness, and where Vesta would be properly called last in that instance, this would precede the main prayers of the rite. There is a symbolic significance to calling Janus first as the beginning of all things. Some commentators have noted that as guardian of the doorway Janus was associated with the front of a house, where Vesta, associated with the hearth, would be towards the rear of an ancient house, or associated with the inner sanctum of a temple. If we therefore think of a ritual in the same way, the preliminary prayers of the praefatio moves us from the beginning of the rite into an ?inner sanctum? where the main sacrifice is to be conducted. There may also be a practical aspect to invoking Vesta last in the preliminary prayers, calling on Her assistance to keep the flames burning for the main sacrifice. In this case She is being invoked prior to the next stage of a rite.
Notes
1. Livy VII 3
2. Pliny Natural History XXVIII 11
3. Livy IX 46.1 ff.
4. Ovid Fasti VI 652-92
5. Cato De Agricultura 141
6. Statius Thebiad IV 443?89
7. Livy XLV 5.4
8. Cicero De Divinatione II 34.71-2
9. Festus p. 83M (s. v. exesto extra esto): Hostis vinctus mulier Virgo exesto.
10. Virgil Aeneis VI 258: Procul, o procul, este profane; Calpurnius Bucolia II 54: Ite procul, sacer est locus, te profani; Silius Italicus Punica 17.28-9: Parcite pollutis contigere vinicula polaris, et procul hinc, moneo, procul hinc, quaecumque profani ferte gradus nec vos casto misce te labori; Ovid Amores III 2.43: Linguis animisque favete; Statius Silvae III 3.12-17: Adeste dique hominesque sacris. Procul hinc, procul ite nocentes, si cui corde nefas tacitum fessique senectus longa patris, si quis pulsatae conscius umquam matris et inferna rigidum timet Aeacon urna: insontes castosque voco. See also Ovid Metamorphoses VII 255; Servius Ad Aen. VIII 179; Suetonius Claudius c 22; and Propertius IV 9.53-60.
11. Cicero De Div. II 34.71-2: id enim silentium dicimus in auspiciis, quod omni vitio caret.
12. Livy V 21.3; Pliny Nat. Hist. XXVIII 18; Servius Ad Aen. II 351; Georg. I 498; Macrobius Saturnalia III 9.2; III 9.7-8; Plutarch Aet. Rom. 61 (278 f); Iguvinian Tablets IA
13. Statius Thebaid IV 457: sacerdos? iubet esse focos. IV 459-60: hunc iuxta cumulo minor ara profundae erigitur.
14. Virgil Eclogues VIII 64-6
15. Pliny Nat. Hist. XXV 59
16. Tacitus Histories IV 53; Cicero De Legibus II 10.24-5;
17. Propertius IV 6 for winding woolen fillets around an altar. Also see Valerius Flaccus Argonautica VIII 246 for conducting a bride around an altar three times, and Statius Thebaid IV 646-5 for carrying libation thrice around the altar.
18. Ovid Fasti II 21-4 for the lictores carrying roasted spelt and salt and the flamines receiving woolen fillets each February.
19. Festus p. 141a, 25; GRF Aelius fr. 62; GRF Cloatius fr. 11
20. Ovid Fasti 2. 645-9
21. Plautus Amphitryon 1126-27
22. Macrobius Saturnalia III 11.60
23. Livy XXVII 377-15; Pliny Nat. Hist. XXXVII 18
24. Livy XXV 3.14-17; XXVI 26.5; Plutarch T. Gracchus 11.1. Also see Roberta Stewart, Public Office in Early Rome, 1998, p. 32.
25. Livy V 22.4; Ovid Amores III 10; Fast IV 657; Statius Theb. VIII 294
26. Statius Theb. IX 602; Persius Satires II 15-16
27. Ovid Fasti IV 655; Propertius IV 6
28. Silius Italicus Pun. II 282: deos iuridico modo testes advocare.
29. Plautus Rudens 1338-49; Livy I 24.8; VI29.2; XXII 53.12. Also see Virgil Aeneid II 153; XII 176; XII 197; Silius Italicus Pun. VI 113; Lucan Pharsalia VII 690
30. Plautus Bacchides 892-95
31. Cicero Nat. Deor. II 67
32. Livy VIII 9.6
33. Cato De Agricultura CXXXII
M Horatius Piscinus
Sapere aude!